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April 15, 2008

George W. Bush, our first Catholic president?

"One of the key principles of Catholic social thought is known as the principle of subsidiarity," the Acton Institute explains. "This tenet holds that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization . . . [It] is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom. It conflicts with the passion for centralization and bureaucracy characteristic of the Welfare State . . . In spite of this clear warning, the United States Catholic Bishops remain staunch defenders of a statist approach to social problems." Photo series features Tiny expressing her personal freedom this evening in a rousing game of superball on the court that is the dining room's parquet floor.

Shortly after Pope Benedict XVI's election in 2005, President Bush met with a small circle of advisers in the Oval Office . . . the president remarked that he had read one of the new pontiff's books about faith and culture in Western Europe.

Save for one other soul, Bush was the only non-Catholic in the room. But his interest in the pope's writings was no surprise to those around him. As the White House prepares to welcome Benedict on Tuesday, many in Bush's inner circle expect the pontiff to find a kindred spirit in the president . . .

Yes, there was John F. Kennedy. But where Kennedy
sought to divorce his religion from his office, Bush has welcomed Roman
Catholic doctrine and teachings into the White House and based many
important domestic policy decisions on them.

"His political base is solidly evangelical. Yet this Protestant president has surrounded himself with Roman Catholic intellectuals, speechwriters, professors, priests, bishops and politicians" [Who knew?]:

Bush has also placed Catholics in prominent roles in the federal government and relied on Catholic tradition to make a public case for everything from his faith-based initiative to antiabortion legislation . . . Even before he got to the White House, Bush and his political guru Karl Rove invited Catholic intellectuals to Texas to instruct the candidate on the church's social teachings . . . Many Catholics close to him believe that the approximately 300 judges he has seated on the federal bench -- most notably Catholics John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court -- may yet be his greatest legacy.

"Bush also used Catholic doctrine and rhetoric to push his faith-based initiative, a movement to open federal funding to grass-roots religious groups that provide social services to their communities":

John F. Kennedy was the Nation's first Catholic President. Definitely not George W. Bush, as he was raised Episcopalian and now belongs to the United Methodist Church (which he joined when he married his Laura). During the Presidency of JFK, he experienced huge blowback as the conservative media accused JFK of being in the pocket of the current Pope. Claiming that George Bush is the First Catholic President is doing disservice to the memory and struggle of John F. Kennedy.